"Windmill" wrote in message
...
Ken writes:

Windmill wrote:
I have an old 5.25" Quantum Bigfoot CY6.4 hard drive which I want to
use in an old PC.

Do you hear the disk spinning when power is applied to it? Many old
drives, particularly those that have been sitting for a while, fail to
spin due to the heads sticking to the disk surface. I believe the term
is stiction or something like that. If it is not spinning apply power
and tap the edge of the drive sharply against the palm of your hand.
Sometimes that will break the heads loose.

A drive not spinning will not be detected.

I think you're probably correct. Can't hear anything except some
ticking noises.

I think some drives had a routine for head stiction, maybe as simple as
repeatedly trying to start up a set number of times, maybe trying
alternately trying to start bacwards a few times.

Could try repeated power cycling (start up routine) before clonking it one
to unstick the heads.